Our Staff

Ella McGill
Executive Director
ella@sisterschools.org

Ella McGill grew up as a part of the Sister Schools family and took her first trip to Uganda in 2003 at the age of nine. Since then, she has returned to Ugandan six times and has never ceased to be amazed by Sister Schools and its impact. She graduated with honors from Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA, completing a thesis entitled “Pearl of Africa: Condemnation and Celebration in Uganda,” in 2017. She has worked at Sister Schools since then, first as Special Projects Coordinator and now as the Executive Director. Ella’s favorite part about Sister Schools is the impact it has on local students just like her. She loves attending Return Presentations and watching the excitement build among the student body as they begin recognizing themselves and their classmates. She thinks we typically underestimate what our kids are capable of and is always excited to see how they can change the world.

Terry McGill
Founder, Program Director
terry@sisterschools.org

Biography

In 1988, Terry McGill traveled to East Africa and saw the incredible poverty and hardship resulting from twenty years of civil war and a ravaging AIDS epidemic in the small country of Uganda. He was forced to ask a very personal question, “if I really am the kind of person I like to think I am, what should I do?” Upon his return to Seattle, he shared his experience with local school children who, after seeing pictures of the conditions in Ugandan schools and orphanages, responded with overwhelming generosity. Terry returned to Uganda with hundreds of pounds of donated school supplies and clothing. As he distributed the items in Uganda he saw communities transformed as hope returned to hundreds of children, their parents and their teachers. Terry knew he had to share what he’d seen with the children whose willingness to get involved had made it all possible. Returning home, Terry revisited each participating U.S. In the more than 25 years since that first trip, Terry has spoken in more than two hundred local schools, shared his story with thousands of local students and teachers and helped deliver more than three-quarters of a million pounds of supplies donated by U. S. school children to their counterparts in Uganda.

Asia Kamukama
Finance and Administration Manager
asia@sisterschools.org

Biography

Seven years ago, when Asia joined Sister Schools as their Ugandan Country Coordinator, she dreamed of being part of the change in her country. She had no clue what immense changes she would be part of. Asia grew up in a Ugandan village where 90% of the children didn’t attend school, education was hard to come by, and life was very difficult. She always knew that education was the gateway, even if she had to walk seven miles to school and scrounge for supplies. Asia excelled in school and received government sponsorship to attend University, where she received a BA in Development Economics.Asia started work as a librarian. After two months of struggling to teach children how to read, she fell in love with the beautiful smiles of triumph that filled their faces the first time they were able to pronounce a word right. Soon after, she started working for Sister Schools, identifying schools and orphanages for our partnership, working with sponsorship students, and overseeing all Sister Schools projects and programs in Uganda. Asia sees first-hand schools transformed from shambles to first class schools with well-stocked literacy centers, as well as cemented and painted classrooms. Education is a matter of life and death in Uganda and anything counts, be it a pen, book or even a ball to play with during break time. Those little things mean a lot to the children, their teachers and families, and are rays of hope for many.

Sheilah Otyek
Field Coordinator
sheilah@sisterschools.org

Coming Soon!

Board of Directors

Becky Jones
President of the Board

Biography

Becky recently joined Swift HR Solutions as a Senior Consultant. They are a local consulting firm providing comprehensive HR solutions for companies and nonprofits from the earliest stage. She spent the previous six years as a Principal HR Strategy Consultant at TriNet, a PEO that supports small- and medium-sized businesses and nonprofits. Becky also spent four years as a nonprofit HR Director, and is excited to be able to give back to the nonprofit community in a new way.

She has a passion for education, as her mother spent over thirty years as an elementary teacher. She has also spent time in Zimbabwe supporting students, and she is inspired by the mission of Sister Schools to support education opportunities in Uganda while fostering personal philanthropy in local students. She lives in Kennydale with her husband and two dogs, and enjoys travel, cooking, and gardening.

Sam Goodman
Treasurer of the Board

Biography

Sam is an engineer at Google, working on cloud solutions for government customers. Historically, he has worked at a number of charitable organizations in the Seattle area assisting vulnerable populations. He was inspired to join Sister Schools because of its mission to promote education and cross-cultural understanding.

Payal Hegde
Director

Biography

Payal is an Engineering Program Manager at Willow, and has lived in the beautiful PNW since 2009. Payal was born in India, and used to Volunteer in her community and believes that education is every child’s right. Kids are the future, and Payal wants to be a part of a Program that believes in the same mission. Payal is thrilled to be part of a philanthropy which has the ability to change someone’s life.

Carol Coram
Director

Coming soon!

Carolyn Kelley
Director

Coming soon!

Ruby Englund
Director

Coming soon!

Tom Andrews
Director

Coming soon!